I once set up a tank for my kid sister and the store did not tell me about the beta's I had one blue and one red male along with neons, angle fish, and a couple hundred dollars of other fish. With in two days the two betas had all other fish eaten and then started fighting amongs themselves.

SOME particular Betta Splendens can make good community fish (though a 20 gallon take is the SMALLEST I'd try it with). You need to be okay with scooping him out and back into his bowl if it turns out that he isn't one of them, though. :)

Look for peaceful- but hardy fish. Nothing with bright colors (guppies), long fins (gouramies), a tendancy to be nippy (most tetras, angelfish, guppies again)- catfish (cories/plecos) might be a good bet?

It can be very touch and go. Make sure EVERYONE has plenty of room- go way below the maximum of fish.

An alternative? Get plexiglass seperator sheets- and split the tank into 3 or 4 betta homes. You can even use a 20 gallon tank to breed bettas, but that takes a lot of work- and isn't really a great idea for a novice. :)

Remember, too- that Bettas like their water VERY warm and VERY still (keep that in mind when picking buddies). If all else fails, put him back in his bowl (if you keep it clean, it's not too tiny, and it' covered he'll be quite happy in there)- and just start a nice community tank without him. Good luck!

Longdogs has it right as usual. Some bettas can do fine in a well planted aquarium that has lots of hiding places and cover. You definitely don't want to put them in a tank with fish known to be 'fin nippers', like rainbowfish, larger tetras, overly territorial fish like some of the larger cichlids, zebra fish, etc.

I kept a betta in a well planted 10 gallon tank for about a year (they have short lifespans, I believe he died of old age and not disease) with a couple of small clown loaches, some cardinal tetras and a pair of rams. I did 25% water changes once a week to make sure that the small tank could support the biological load. The fish all survived a move from Illinois to Alabama so I must have been doing something right.

Neon tetras might be too small and be more of a target, cardinal tetras are fast but still very peaceful, and not prone to 'fin nipping'. As bettas have a tendency to be more 'top dwellers' in the tank environment, some of the dwarf cichlids like the Ram Cichlid or the kribensis may work. However, if the dwarf cichlids spawn and lay eggs, they'll be significantly more aggressive with other fish. MIne never spawned so it wasn't really an issue.

We have had betta's for many years and we put them in with other fish in 20 and up gallon tanks. At first we would put plastic seperators between the two to see how the betta took to the other fish. Then after a few days if it looked ok we would let them swim together. We never had a problem and we had guppies, angels, silver dollars, neons + many more. I would not put two males in the same tank though. Our bettas were normally pretty good. I guess again we lucked out from everything I have read from people in this topic!

my daughter has a red betta .he's in a very large bowl by himself. she's had him for a little over a year and we have noticed he stays at the top of the bowl all the time now and moves very little. i have a feeling he is coming to the end. she will be heartbroken as she takes really good care of him.

Hi there, Several years ago I had a I believe 15 gallon tank. I had a beta in there. I had angel fish, algae fish and catfish with no problem. They lived together quite well. I did try neons and they were fish food. But really the rest were fine. I didn't have a problem.

I have been raising Betas for a while now. They prefer small bowls, like a goldfish bowl. Male betas will get along with any non-aggressive fish except another male beta.

When they start blowing bubbles on the top of their bowl this is an indication that they want to breed.

If you can find a female compartive in size to the male place a styrofoam cup ( cut in half) on top of the water they will build a nest then you can put the female in.

If after 2 days the male seems to be still nipping at her fins take her out, they are not meant for each other.

Make sure there is some type of foliage in the bowl for the female to hide in, if she becomes enlarged with eggs, wait till she has them you will be able to tell, she will lay them on the bottom of the bowl and the male will place them in the nest and fertlize them. Take her out! The babies are now his responsibility.

If you have any other questions please e-mail me at penske82663@yahoo.com More than happy to help others with betas.

We have a couple Bettas (seperate tanks), our pet store told us any other fish that is smaller, not real colorful and does not have large fins. Apparently its the large size and bright colors that cause them to become aggressive. Also dwarf frogs work too.

I had two betas but at separate times. A blue one and a red one. I loved them. They were so cute. The blue one especially. He would make faces at me and get real excited when I'd come up to the side of the bowl. The blue one only lived about a year and the red one only a few months. I just kept them in a glass bowl, no filters or any thing. I used bottled water. After the red one died I bought a small tank with filters but haven't had the guts to try and keep fish again. They always just seem to die on me. I really like them though. So pretty!